Tag: UCSB

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were arrested for breaking into a van and stealing several computers during their junior year. They so impressed their probation officers (Harris in particular) with their good manners and apparent willingness to change that they were released from probation several months early. One year later, they took a pile of homemade bombs and three guns into Columbine High School and went on a rampage, killing 13 before committing suicide. Harris wore a plain white t-shirt that read “natural selection.”

After he made himself infamous with his final violent act, his journals were discovered. He wrote about the probation process and the adults involved. He ranted that the owner of the van was to blame for leaving his computers in plain sight, and he (Harris) had every right to take them because the victim was “a dumbass.” Most of his journal entries were along those lines. He railed about being superior; he believed that natural selection gave him every right to assert that superiority.

Elliot Rodger, the UCSB shooter, sounds eerily like Eric Harris.

The Friday before he went on his killing spree, Rodger posted eight different videos to YouTube and sent a nearly 140-page diatribe to several sources, including the media. In one video, he says, “I’ll take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you. You will finally see that I am the superior one, the true alpha male.” He expresses frustration bordering on rage that girls have never taken an interest in him. In his final acts, he stabbed three roommates to death in his apartment, then went on a drive-by shooting spree that killed three more. He ran over four people in his expensive black BMW before getting into a shoot-out with police, then shot himself in the head.

There’s something more to this kid, though, that it seems everyone is missing. He was diagnosed with high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome and had difficulty making friends when he was in private schools. His parents reportedly sent him to the best schools available; he wanted for nothing, with Gucci and Prada being his favorite styles. An incident he describes himself in one of his videos is very telling, though. He talks about being at a party and being angry with women for not paying attention to him, so he tries to shove several girls off of a ledge. Several men at the party, angry with him for his actions, tossed him over the ledge instead, injuring his ankle. He leaves, discovers that he’s lost his Gucci sunglasses, and goes back to get them – only to find the same angry men waiting to beat the crap out of him. They did so, sending him home a mess.

I don’t give a damn who you are – if you try to shove women over a balcony, yeah, you deserve a first-rate beatdown. Had I been there, I would have done the same thing. I do not care what your motives are or how hurt you are. One does not alleviate their pain by inflicting pain on others. It doesn’t work that way.

Rodger’s own description of some of the things he’s done tells us quite a bit about him. He was an angry boy who always found the most inappropriate methods for expressing his anger. Then he simply couldn’t understand why nobody wanted to be around him. His parents were the liberal anti-gun sort, typical of the Hollywood types who teach their kids the “peace and love” mantra without ever teaching them chivalry, honor, and respect. He was probably never taught that the way to a girl’s heart is to first respect her and show interest in her (NOT of the sexual variety). It doesn’t take much. It had nothing to do with his race (as he angrily claimed). It had everything to do with the fact that he was a sociopath who believed himself superior to everyone else and was never taught to care about other people. All he cared about was himself – his feelings, his desires, his passions. When he discovered that the world was not going to give him what he wanted he pitched a hissy fit.

This had nothing to do with women, his unrequited sexual drive, or his loneliness. It sure as hell wasn’t about the NRA or the gun culture. Rodger used knives and his car along with his guns to kill and maim. This had everything to do with his selfish, sociopathic attitude and outlook on life. To blame it on anything else is shortsighted at best.